History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches, Part 25

Author: Doty, Lockwood R., 1858- [from old catalog] ed; Van Deusen, W. J., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Jackson, Mich., W. J. Van Deusen
Number of Pages: 1422

USA > New York > Livingston County > History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches > Part 25

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1 . .

Map of Williamsburgh, made by John Smith in 1794. The "Colonel Abell" dwelling house is on lots, 13, 14, 15 and 16.

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY

lying along the road leading to the foot of Conesus lake. describing the lands minutely to them, and specifying particular parcels on either side of the highway. They at once took the path up the hill, over the route now traversed by South street, just as a cold, drizzling rain began to fall. Daniel Kelly selected a lot of over a hundred acres on which the present Lakeville cemetery is located, and John Harrison selected the farm lying directly east of it, across the main road. This done, they went down to Peter Steel's tavern, a little log cabin situated in Upper Lakeville, for dinner. They reached there drenched to the skin, and John Harrison no sooner got to the fire than a chill seized him, which was so severe that it drove him almost into the heap of smouldering coals. The first salutation that met his ear was the unwelcome remark of an old root doctor from a neighboring settlement, "You've got the ager, stranger, fast enough." After an hour spent here, they returned to Geneseo. Kelly paid earnest money, but Mr. Harrison was sick and far from home, and it was therefore concluded that he had better not part with the little money he had. It was agreed, however, that he and Kelly should return by the first of the following May to complete the purchase of the lands selected by them. 1 They then went to Lemon's tavern for the night. Harrison's ague came on again, and a daughter of John Ewart, who resided at Williamsburgh, was also down with it. The party were ready by daylight to return to Pennsylvania, and Mr. Harrison, sick as he was, decided to return with them. They had now but one horse, and as Mr. Harrison was weak he took the saddle. In going down the hill leading to the inlet of Hemlock lake Harrison began to shake, and calling to his companions to secure the horse, he threw himself off and started forward on a run, "shaking and stooping," he says, "as if I had my back broken. My companions laughed at my odd motions. but I felt too wretched to notice their jokes. Still, I liked the new country, as well as my companions who had escaped that abomination of new settlements, the fever and ague, and we all three came back and located the following May, a step I have never regretted." Mr. Harrison says that Williamsburgh, at this, his first visit, contained, besides the frame tavern and a house occupied by John Ewart, some

1. They did not get back, however, until the 12th of May, and Mr. Wadsworth had by that time sold the lot selected by John Harrison, The latter then purchased in Groveland. Ezra Gray occupied a part of Mr. Harrison's first purchase.

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY

five or six log houses built by Captain Williamson. On their way home they met persons going toward the village they had just left. with cattle to exhibit at the approaching fair, and heard frequent men- tion of the races soon to come off, at which fourteen speed horses were entered for the fifty pound purse.

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY

CHAPTER X.

W HILE full heed was given to the material interests of the new settlements, the attention of religious societies was als drawn to the spiritual demands of the frontier. The Legis- lature of Connecticut, at its session in October, 1792, passed an act enjoining contributions from all the churches of that State on the first Sabbath in the month of May, annually for three years, to support missionaries and promote Christian knowledge in the northern and western frontier settlements, "where the ordinances of the gospel are not established and in places destitute of the stated means of grace." The moneys thus raised were placed in the hands of the good and wise Jonathan Edwards and two associates.1 Eight missionaries were sent out by them in the summer of 1794, one of whom, the Rev. Aaron Kinne, proceeded on horseback by way of Catskill westward, passing through Geneva, where he preached to a large audience, to the Gene- see river. He preached at Canawaugus, Big Tree. Williamsburgh and other settlements, travelling more than thirteen hundred miles and preaching more than four score sermons, besides administering the sacrament. His hearers often came eight or ten miles to listen to him. The following year he again visited these places When he reached a settlement it "seemed a day of gladness." Many with open arms embraced him, and often with the remark "We are glad you have come back. We have not heard a sermon since you were with us last year." He found the people possessed of but limited school privileges. and generally observed a great scarcity of books, especially of a re- ligious character.

In July 1795 the Rev. Daniel Thatcher, a missionary, under the auspices of the Presbyterian General Assembly, organized a church at Lima," and one in Geneseo, which subsequently removed to and still

1. The organization was denominated the "Missionary society of Connecticut," and was t'e first organization of the kind in the I'nited States, It- meetings were held at the state House i Hartford.

2. Then called Charlestown.

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY

remains at Lakeville. Neither of these societies was immediately prosperous. That at Lima continued feeble until 1799, when it was reorganized as a Congregational society, and that at Geneseo, irreg- ularly supplied and destitute of stated public worship, remained in- effective for some years and until the removal to its present location.

The missionaries seemed reluctant to cross the river. Society there for several years paid little regard to the demands of the church, or, indeed, to the mere ordinary restraints of order, and it was a common remark, until the Scotch settlement was formed at C'aledonia, that "Sabbath day never crossed the Genesee river."

In 1802 the Hampshire Missionary Society of Massachusetts sent out missionaries to the new settlements. These also visited the Indian villages along the Genesee river. The Society represented that it had been favored with liberal subscriptions by the public for the ex- penses of ministers and for the purchase of bibles and other religious writings to be distributed among the settlers. The letter of introduc- tion from the trustees of the Society to the missionaries is written in liberality of spirit They were enjoined to avoid mere doctrinal dis- putations, and not to complain of the unavoidable hardships incident to a new country, which they were voluntarily undertaking.

The broad forests and fine natural scenery of Western New York, and a desire, perhaps, to see the Indian in his native haunts, appear to have possessed a fascination for European travelers. The visit of Tailey- rand has already been mentioned. Louis Philippe, afterward Citizen King of France, tarried many days along the streams and among the habitations of the early settlers, and in June 1795 the Duke de Lian- court, "one of the most eminent noblemen of France," says General King, passed through the Genesee valley, visiting every settlement and spending several weeks with Captain Williamson, Mr. Wadsworth and others. He was accompanied by a young Englishman, three or four servants and a favorite dog named Cartouche, who made a good meal of one of black Jenny's fine chickens at Geneseo, greatly to her dis- gust. The Duke was a close observer, and has left an interesting record of what he saw. He liked Capt. Williamson, who explained to him that, after spending six months in visiting and surveying the estate of his principals, he concluded to establish several settlements rather than one capital colony. The most eligible spots were there-

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fore fixed upon, and Bath, Williamsburgh,1 Geneva and Great Sodus were begun. By the summer of 1796 three grist and seven saw mills had been erected, and the eight hundred thousand acres that had been disposed of at an average price of three dollars per acre had re- funded the whole purchase money and other expenses incurred, and left a net profit of fifty thousand pounds sterling. The Duke says that Williamson personally directed everything and was attentive to all who had business with him. Contracts were promptly concluded and new settlers were treated with marked consideration. The titles secured from him were perfect ; and the terms, which were reasonable and easy, required that all who purchased land of him should clear a certain number of acres and place a family upon the farm within eighteen months, half the purchase money to be paid at the end of three years and the remainder at the end of six years. No settler was allowed to want. Occasionally a poor family was supplied with a cow, and, where a willing farmer was found struggling, with a yoke of oxen and even a house to shelter him, where adversity render- ed such an act a matter of humanity. Williamson was everywhere. No detail was too insignificant for his personal attention, and no com- plaint was too trivial. His manner was mild and just, and his policy is commended in fitting terms by the titled Frenchman

De Liancourt brought a letter of introduction from General Chapin to William Wadsworth, whom they found at Geneseo preparing to leave the next morning for Canandaigua, where he was to meet his militia command for a general muster. Of the ride to Geneseo the Duke says, that "along the whole route from Canandaigua to Geneseo the woods, beautiful to the eye, are not so crowded with trees as on the other side (of Canandaigua). Several parts of the forest have been burnt over by the Indians." The Duke was invited to spend the night at Mr. Wadsworth's house, and, as there was no tavern then in Gene- seo, he accepted. It was then eight o'clock in the evening and Mr. Wadsworth was just mounting his horse to visit a friend. The Duke describes Wadsworth's domicile as a "small log house as dirty as any I have ever seen." Stores of all kinds, meats, vegetables and live poultry were crowded in and about the house, and the Frenchman's olfactories were offended by the odors, and he was not overpleased with

I. A full account of this now extinct village will be found in the sketch of the town of Groveland.

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY

the beds. But so hearty a welcome was extended to him that he could overlook what his fastidious taste did not approve, and he was well pleased with the rough courtesy and bluff manner of his host. The Duke rose early in the morning to see Mr. Wadsworth, then a captain. before he set out for the muster. He found him undergoing the operation of hair-dressing at the hands of his negro woman Jenny. An Indian came in and bought a barrel of whiskey of him, and two persons from Williamsburgh were negotiating the purchase of some lands while his hair was receiving the final touches. Orders were given to the domestics and to his man of business, and a pressing re- quest was made of the Duke to pass several days under his roof, all in the space of a few minutes. When the Captain's fine horse was brought to the door he grasped the Duke's hand, mounted his black charger and galloped away. "After the Captain left, " says the Duke. "his nephew, a youth of about fifteen years of age, conducted us to the flats which border the river. "

On the flats, three miles from Mr. Wadsworth's.residence, the Duke found a recluse named De Boni, whose character and history greatly interested him. Hermit-like, De Boni occupied a log hut, twelve feet square, built by himself and a faithful mulatto servant named Joseph. Twenty acres of land supplied them with grains and garden vegeta- bles, and an occasional day's labor of Joseph secured them milk and eggs of their neighbors. De Boni was a Frenchman, a native of Alsace, born of parents of wealth and position. A quarrel with a neighboring land proprietor led to a duel in which his antagonist, a gentleman of greater age than himself and a man of consequence. was wounded. The dread of a lettre de cachet induced him to quit hi- native country and find his way to San Domingo, where he enlisted as a private soldier. Opportunity soon afforded a discharge, and his ability and attainments as a civil engineer secured him a situation in the government of the island. He also became a planter and was en- joying a good income when civil dissensions suddenly broke out, and he was forced to quit the island. He came to America with little money and few effects. At Hartford he met Colonel Jeremiah Wadsworth, who, commiserating his condition, offered him the land he was found occupying, and aided him in securing a small sum of money. The Duke's party, now increased by the addition of two countrymen, sent word to De Boni that the party would dine with him the next day.

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY

The hermit expressed much satisfaction on their arrival, and though habitually peevish, exerted himself to make their visit agreeable. They found him a man of forty years of age, and of easy and agree- able manners. His reading had been extensive, his understanding was sound and his conversation entertaining. His nature was over-sensi- tive, and misfortunes had quite soured his temper and made him a misanthrope; and even the sprightly conversation of his countrymen did not dispel, except at intervals, the settled gloom that overhung his spirits, nor prevent occasional bitter references to mankind, whom, in the gross, he appeared deeply to hate. He spoke kindly of Joseph. a busy and cheerful fellow, who stood in the relation of a friend rather than of a servant. and dwelt upon his capacity as a husbandman, gar- dener and cook, and the shrewdness with which he managed to secure the assistance of farmers and their teams to cultivate his land. Of the Indians occupying a small village located near his domicile he spoke kindly. Their freedom from the restraints of society and their dislike of the encroachments of the whites seemed to agree with his own singular mood, and he reasoned acutely in favor of that form of society which gives back to the whole all property and dispenses with all law. Two of the party passed the night with him, and at parting he expressed his thanks for the attention that had been shown him.

On their return the party were made acquainted with many facts relating to the progress of the settlements. Day laborers were then scarce and readily commanded one dollar a day. Merchandise was brought by Mr. Wadsworth from Connecticut to supply his store, in wagons drawn by oxen, and the cost of transportation was met by fattening and selling the oxen at Niagara for beef at enhanced prices. Land was worth from 82 to $2.50 per acre, and under the contracts the purchase all fell due in four years. the interest running from the. date of the contract.

The Duke and his party quit Geneseo on the morning of the 16th of June 1795 for Niagara. He says the road from Geneseo to Canan- daigua "is a good one for this country. As usual it leads through the midst of woods. Within the space of twelve miles we saw only one habitation." Of Canawaugus he says, "the inhabitants here are vet but few, but among them is one of the best inns we have seen for some time past. Mr. Berry keeps it, a good civil man," but of whose sobriety he does not speak so flatteringly.

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY

The Duke makes particular reference to the oak openings along the road. These singular tracts, entirely free of timber and showing signs of former cultivation, as well as the open flats of the Genesee, "where ten thousand acres might be found in one body, encumbered with not even bush, but covered with grass so high that the largest bullock, at thirty feet from the path, would be completely hid from view, "] excited much speculation in early days. The first settlers supposed that the openings were poor lands, and it was only when compelled to test their quality that they discovered, to their agreca- ble surprise, that the soil was of great excellence, and lands which before could have been bought tor a quarter of a dollar an acre at once advanced to ten dollars.

In May 1796 Charles Williamson was placed in nomination for the Assembly, the district embracing the counties of Ontario and Steuben, which then included all this region, and out of 638 votes cast he received all but eleven. Lemuel Chipman was elected to the Assembly on the same ticket. The returns from the town of Sparta, which had cast its suffrages for him, were sent to Albany signed only by the clerk of the poll and not by the inspectors. The vote of the town was therefore rejected and lost. Captain Wil- liamson secured useful legislation for this region, and lost no oppor- tunity of making the advantages of the Genesee country known to his colleagues and others. Other effective influences were also at work to bring the region to the attention of capitalists. James Wadsworth was in London in the spring of 1796, negotiating for the sale of Gen- esee lands. He writes in May, "My letters and friends have intro- duced me to an extensive acquaintance and a number of capitalists. I think I may be justified in saying that I have been able to inspire greater confidence in American new lands among gentlemen of prop- erty and respectability here than any who have preceded me on simi- lar business." He found an earnest coadjutor in Sir William Pulteney, with whom he was on terms of social intimacy. An observer, writing from Ontario county a few years later, says, "No land agent in the Genesee country is so successful as James Wadsworth. He sells three times as much as any one else." With the increasing sales of land and growing immigration the roads began to improve. In Septem- ber 1796 Thomas Morris, writing to his father, says, "From Bath to

1. Williamson's letters to a friend.

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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY

the Genesee river the road is very practicable for wagons to travel, although at this season it is not always good." Williamson had pro- cured legislation on the subject of public highways, and the Indians, who had previously opposed the cutting of a road through their lands from Canandaigua to Niagara, agreed in a conference held in October 1796, at which Cornplanter was a principal speaker, to grant the priv- ilege, 1

In the Spring of 1796 William Magee" came to Sparta with his fam- ily and settled in the Canaseraga valley, on what was formerly known as the Ward farm. He had selected the land the previous year, and en- gaged his brother Henry, who was then residing on Captain John Smith's farm, to put up a log cabin against the arrival of himself and family, He left New Jersey in September 1795, but floods in the Sus- quehanna detained him several months, and it was not until May that he was enabled to place his little family on a flat boat and make the slow journey up the river. From Hornellsville to Sparta they came by wagons laden with household effects, a pair of copper stills and seed. passing over the site of Dansville, where not a building of any des- cription had as yet been erected.3 The house then building, about seventy rods east of the Canaseraga, was not yet done on their arrival and the family took temporary shelter in an Indian hut near by. The country was indeed new. The nearest neighbor north was Henry Magee, distant by way of the road which then ran on the flats near the swamp three miles, and as the gullies were yet unspanned by bridges and the steep places unleveled, locomotion was not very rapid. To the south the nearest neighbor was Darling Havens, who was keep- ing tavern in a log cabin three miles away. Groveland hill did not count a single settler. The road, a path by way of Havens' tavern, led to the Williamson grist mill and saw mill, the latter standing a few rods below the former, near Dansville; and the only settler on the road

I. Albany Gazette of October 17, 1796.

2. William Magee was a native of Ireland, which country he left in 1784, and landed at Phil- adelphia the same year. From there he went to Greenwich, New Jersey, where in 1785 he married Hannah Quick, who was of Low Dutch de cent. From thence he came to the Genesee country.

3. It was an entire wilderness. I mean where the village now stands. South of the village nearly a mile there was one log cabin owned and occupied by Neal McCay, and one other cabin occupied by Amariah Hammond, north of the present village, near the Indian trail that passed through the place. He came into the place the same year that my father came into Sparta, 1796. -Sam'l Magee's Mss. Recollections.

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1 -tween the tavern and the mill was Captain John Clark, who then lived near the old Driesbach tavern stand. The site of Dansville was t lense thicket of pine underbrush with here and there a stately pine tree. A mere wagon-track led to the mill, and to right and left "the i'ne bush was so thick that a person could not possibly see one rod into it on either side. "1. Both flat and hillside were a dense wilderness.

About a mile north of Henry Magee's house, on the main road, Was a -mall settlement called Hermitage. Residing there were Captain John Smith, a surveyor of some note, and a brother, George Smith. Alex- ander Me Donald, a distiller. James Butler, an Irish boot and shoe maker, Scotch John Smith, Joseph Roberts and several sons, all young men grown, Hector MeKay, Robert Wilson, James Templeton, a tail- or, Nicholas Beach and Levi Dunn.

In 1798 Thomas Howey opened a blacksmith shop at Ilermitage. At that time there was no other blacksmith in the town of Sparta, and yet he had not business enough to engage him more than half the time, the remainder of his time he employed in farming. lle was stout and not well suited to horseback riding, and consequently one day, when his family stood in need of some flour, he consulted with a fellow coun- tryman, James Butler, residing near the site of Driesbach's tavern, who advised him to make an Irish slide-car, as being better suited to traveling the Indian path, -for there was no road. Butler gave him a description of the article and he made one which was pronounced all right. Taking an early start, he got along very well until he reached

James Rodman's distillery. Here he was treated to a little good whiskey, after which he went on to the mill, got his grist, load- ed up his slide-car and came back as far as Rodman's. Several more liberal potations of whiskey on an empty stomach rendered it expedient for him to take passage on the slide-car himself. After going about two miles he broke down. Being in no condition to place the grist on his horse, he concluded to leave it on the side of the path and make his way back to Rodman's and remain there all night. Repairing his car the following morning, he returned to his grist only to find that meantime a drove of wild hog's had discovered it. torn the bags into shreds and eaten up the flour. How could he ex- plain the loss to his wife? A broken cog on the mill wheel was charged with the delay, and for a time the excuse passed muster; but

- Samuel Magee.

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finally his wife and the neighbors got hold of the secret and Howey never heard the last of it.

Williamsburgh contained at this time three frame buildings and several log houses, perhaps twelve in all, mostly built by Captain Wil- liamson. The inhabitants were Captain Starr, the tavern keeper, Samuel Ewin, John Ewart, William Harris, Green Smith, Thomas and William Lemen, distillers, and Matthias Lemen, a tanner and currier. "The first sermon we listened to after our arrival," says Samuel Magee, "was in what was known as Williamson's big barn at Hermitage, some two hundred feet long, say some of the early settlers, built to accommodate horses that came to the races, since owned and used by Judge Carroll. Rev. Samuel Mills preached to an attentive congregation." Here and there was an Indian who had come stealth- ily in and taken a seat as far as possible out of view, where he watch- ed the exercises with curious attention. Samuel Mills resided one mile south of Williamsburgh on the east bank ot the Canaseraga. His sons, all men grown and residing with him, were Samuel, Jr., Alexander, Lewis, Philo and William A. In the summer he held ser- vice in the Williamson barn, and in the winter at private houses.

In 1797 the State took the road from Fort Schuyler to Geneva under its patronage. A lottery had been granted by the Legislature for opening and improving certain great highways of the State, and among the number was this road. The inhabitants on the line of the road voluntarily subscribed four thousand days' work to put it into. condition, and the commissioners "were enabled to complete the road. of near one hundred miles, opening it 64 feet wide and paving with logs and gravel the moist parts, and what in the month of June 1797 was little better than an Indian path, was so far improv- ed that a stage started from Fort Schuyler on the 30th of September and arrived at the hotel in Geneva in the afternoon of the third day with four passengers,"1 and stages then ran weekly from Canandaigua to Albany. The new road so quickened travel, that within the space of five weeks in the following winter five hundred sleighs with fami- lies passed through Geneva.

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History of Livingston County, New York, from its earliest traditions to the present together with early town sketches, Part 25

Author: Doty, Lockwood R., 1858- [from old catalog] ed; Van Deusen, W. J., pub. [from old catalog] Publication date: 1905 Publisher: Jackson, Mich., W. J. Van Deusen Number of Pages: 1422

Author: Doty, Lockwood R., 1858- [from old catalog] ed; Van Deusen, W. J., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1905
Publisher: Jackson, Mich., W. J. Van Deusen
Number of Pages: 1422